Question from one of my fitness/business mentors:
“Do you mind sharing what you did to make this happen”:

My response (from my heart):
“I just truly stopped trying to be someone else. I’ve been praying hard about who I am and living so that my truest self shows up, no matter where I am. I’m learning that I’m not one person as a fitness instructor and another person in my ‘personal life’. I am who I am. I can’t turn something on for one group of people then claim to ‘turn it off’ for another. I stopped trying to please people and focused on pleasing God.

At the beginning of the year I decided I was putting First Things First; that meant God first, everything else was second…including my plans. I figured if God wants it in my life, He’ll see to it that it happens. And here we are!

I soooo appreciate my Pastor for holding us accountable! We’ve gotta hold each other accountable on EVERYTHING (spirit, soul, body, finances & relationships) my pastor calls those the arenas of life. Arena-because that’s where battles are fought! And won!”

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, … We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-6 NLT)

Every weight. Wow. So, that must mean that there’s more than just one or two, but quite possibly several that we haven’t even realized are weights. You know what I’m talkin’ about, the stuff that weighs you down. The stuff where the hurt & the healer collide.

I’m so committed to gettin’ that junk off of me. Yesterday I kept replaying the devotional I read concerning Moses questioning his qualifications. UGGGGG talk about a pesky weight. All day I was feelin’ like Moses.

I’m committed to getting rid of this weight for good. I’ve set my FOCUS on staying #ANCHORED so I’ve surrounded myself with every possible resource I can find that will help me get beyond myself & my rationalizations. Those “as soon as” & “I’m gonna do this when” rationalizations.

I had to come to a point where I realized I didn’t have it all together, AND THAT’S A HARD PILL TO SWALLOW. I don’t know how to do everything, and yes I can do all things in Christ, because Christ will supply ALL of my needs; however those needs include connecting me with people who can teach me what I don’t know. Or people who can do things that I can’t.

I’m LOVIN’ LOSIN’ this extra weight!

The other day in our bible study we talked about honoring our uniqueness, that each of us are designed for a specific purpose and not a single one of us can do the other person’s job. (1 Corinthians 12)

What stood out to me most was the fact that the bible actually says we shouldn’t even consider ourselves more valuable than another person, or vise versa, nor should we think that we can do life without one another. This was proof that I can’t possibly do EVERYTHING, but I can do ALL THINGS that CHRIST gave ME strength to do.

1 CORINTHIANS 12: 14 – (ISV) For the body does not consist of only one part, but of many. 15If the foot says, “Since I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? 16And if the ear says, “Since I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole bodye were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But now God has arranged the parts, every one of them, in the body according to his plan.f19Now if all of it were one part, there wouldn’t be a body, would there? 20So there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or the head to the feet, “I don’t need you.” 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable, 23and the parts of the body that we think are less honorable are treated with special honor, and we make our less attractive parts more attractive. 24However, our attractive parts don’t need this. But God has put the body together and has given special honor to the parts that lack it,25so that there might be no disharmony in the body, but that its parts should have the same concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is praised, every part rejoices with it.

I love God’s way of putting the right message in front of us, at the perfect time. I’m still reading You’re Already Amazing. Well at this point I’m not reading it. I’m nibbling on it. In bite size pieces, savoring every morsel and allowing the taste to stay with me. Oh my gosh, God has connected the pieces of this book with literally every part, every situation and every person in my life. PROVIDENCE is what Beth Moore calls it. Praise the Lord for Providence.

prov·i·dence

/ˈprävədəns/

Noun

The protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power.

God or nature as providing such care.

Synonyms

foresight – forethought – prudence

According to merriam-webster’s here’s a clever way of considering that PROVIDENCE:

Rhymes with PROVIDENCE

ME LIKELY!!!!! Let’s run with that! When you get a chance, click each word and check out the definitions and look at how God works. WHEW y’all gonna get me shoutin’ hallelujah up in here!

So back to this providence of God. I’ve talked to so many people who have confessed one weight that consistently holds them back is financial freedom. I came across this financial freedom savings challenge & thought it would be awesome to include in our #LovinLosin challenge and help us adjust our “FOCUS”. In case you’re not sure what that means, I’ll refresh your memory on the F.O.C.U.S (finish our commitments unapologetically stronger).

What tends to hinder you? Fear of failure? Fear of commitment? Fear that you can’t do all things? Sometimes, the Providence of God says “DO WHAT YOU CAN” – you do what you can to take steps and move in the direction God has for your LIFE. (from You’re Already Amazing)

If you could create a “Do What You Can” plan, what would it look like?

Use this model from the resource library of You’re Already Amazing to help you: (please share your ‘plan’ in the comments below. I’d love to help you get rid of the extra weight. Don’t forget to apply your #LOVINLOSIN anchor scripture as you create this plan.

Monday Monday! Oh man, I can’t even pretend to act like this Monday is one of those Mondays you watch the clock til the day is done, this Monday isn’t in the same category cuz I’m totally stoked!!!!! Y’all it’s New Year’s Eve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last day of our #5dayFOCUS challenge to finish strong. Today’s #FOCUS word is

Have you ever considered that exercise & life is much like baking Christmas Cut-Out cookies?

(Source: Microsoft office image gallery)

Last week after spending HOURS in Hobby Lobby {which was quite therapeutic} I can home jazzed and ready to transform my quiet house into a Christmas wonderland. Dazzled with 19 feet of red velvet wired ribbon, sparkly floral picks and silk Poinsettia the size of a toddler’s head; I was ready to deck the halls.

It started as an attempted quick stop to the crafters heaven; then the grocery store to complete my night of holiday cheer; well it turned into a 3 hour stroll through the limitless possibilities of crafting and festive decor. So I finally made it home with ingredients for yummy Christmas cookies.

It wasn’t sticking together, creating a ‘ball’ of dough. It was crumbling in my hand.

So I guess I should confess that I had 2 recipes to choose from. One required mixing, chilling, setting it out room temperature, rolling, cutting and cookin’; actually it was an award winning recipe.

The other, mix, roll, cut, cook, enjoy. Yeah that’s the one I was leaning toward.

In all of my rush and impatience I whipped the recipe together. Not realizing I was looking back and forth between the two recipes comparing the differences while I was mixing and somewhere, something went wrong.

I followed the recipe (and I HATE measuring things so this was a major bonus); both recipes in fact. And then it hit me, right there with all that crumbling dough in my hands.

This is what we do. We sit out God’s recipe (the Bible) and some one else’s idea of 10 steps toward attracting this or that and we take a little of each and try to whip up the perfect little treat of a life. As that dough crumbled in my hands I realized my life may have been in the proverbial mixing bowl of someone’s well intentions, perhaps even my own yet while it looked simple or easy to follow, God had a better recipe. When we decide to take the ‘recipe’ with fewer steps it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to turn out the result we were hoping for.

God knows. Better than those award winning recipes.

So here’s the other Christmas Epiphany I got during all my baking!

–>Great cookies require proper ingredients, preparation & tools and knowing what the end result should look like. Too much sugar or salt and you take a huge risk of ruining the entire batch.

–>Our bodies are like a ball of refrigerated cookie dough. The dough must be room temperature/warm in order for you to even move it or it will tear. So it is with your muscles, you must warm-up before your activities, exercising, or stretching.

Dough Ball (Photo credit: timomcd)

–>Rolling out the dough will prepare the dough for the cookie cutters but it won’t look anything like the shapes you were hoping. Until you actually use the cookie cutters.

–>When you are only doing cardio your body WILL lean out but it’ll also look like that flat cookie dough. Grab the weights and start ‘shaping’ your muscles and you’ll get a ‘cut out’ shape!

It’s beginning to look A LOT like CHRISTMAS. Let the cookie cutting begin.

By the way, I opted for the semi homemade Betty Crocker version. Life is good! And keeps getting better!